Tanvi Dange, Entry #4, Trying New Things

At the beginning of the week of August 8-12, I had a one-on-one meeting with Dr. Franz. I showed her my research from the first four weeks and told her my future plans for the last two. I told her I wanted to test Fenpropidin and Flu-TSCZ against all the S. cerevisiae strains and look at Cu+ binding instead of Cu2+ binding, which is what we had been doing on the UV-vis instrument. Dr. Franz was impressed with the research and the ideas for the future, and even made some suggestions on what plates I should make. So after my meeting with her, Lizzie and I decided that for that weeks biology experiments, we were going to make 6 checkerboard assays: 5 fenpropidin plates, one for each strain, and one Flu-TSCZ plate against the clinical Saccharomyces strain since it has a low azole-resistance. So I went through my normal biology experiment routine: streak a plate on Monday, make an ON Tuesday, plate on Wednesday and keep incubated for 48 hrs (and take time points in between).

the ON for the Oak strains

In addition to working with the new strains, I also had my first experience in the glove box. The glove box is oxygen-free, so it is the perfect place to work with Cu+ so that it won't react with oxygen and become Cu2+.

The Glove Box, aka a sauna for your arms

In the glove box I made oxygen-free azole-antifungals dissolved in DMSO and did what I usually do on the UV-vis to test for binding, but this time it was in a box with my arms very restricted-- the gloves were too big on me, and I barely had a grip on anything that I held. But regardless, I was still excited to have the opportunity to work inside of it: I felt like a true scientist!

I had no shame taking this selfie by the glovebox. Also my thumb is not actually that long...

And while the glove box was a cool experience, I did experience one of the traumas of working in the constricted, oxygen-free space with large gloves. At one point, I was trying to put the cap back on the bottle of DMSO, and I accidentally knocked down the flask. Thankfully, none of the DMSO touched any wires in the box (that would've been AWFUL), but I did have to step out of the glove box and let the graduate students clean up my mess.

Kimwipes covering my spilled DMSO. S/o to Lizzie and Steven for cleaning this, you guys are the best!

 Once I finally finished the scans, it was time for the Chemistry Dept's Happy Hour! I had never been before, and since this was the last one they were hosting while I was at the lab, I decided to check it out for a little. It was so fun! I met some students from other labs, drank water, and played Jenga! It was a great way to end my second to last week, and it's crazy that by this time next week, I will no longer be in the Franz lab. :(

Bob (honorary Franz-lab member) setting up Jenga; Steven is photobombing, and Lizzie didn't know I took a picture.